Brush device for collecting cellular or bacterial specimens



May 19, 1970 s s ETAL 3,512,518

BRUSH DEVICE FOR COLLECTING CELLULAR on BACTERIAL SPEGIMENS Filed NOV. 14, 1966 United States Patent 3,512,518 BRUSH DEVICE FOR COLLECTING CELLULAR 0R BACTERIAL SPECllVIENS Sidney Mishkin, 11 Woodey Lane, Great Neck, N .Y.

11023, and Robert E. Bidwell, 40 Florida St.,

Farmingdale, N.Y. 11735 Filed Nov. 14, 1966, Ser. No. 593,795 Int. Cl. A61b 10/00 US. Cl. 128-2 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A brush device for collecting a cellular or bacterial specimen from a surface. A member has scraping elements projecting outwardly therefrom and a compressible body attached thereto and located about the scraping elements. The free ends of the scraping elements are normally located below the surface of the compressible body but they project outwardly therefrom when the body is compressed for a scraping operation. As the scraping elements then return to their normal position, they wipe the collected specimen onto the surface of the compressible body.

The present invention relates generally to medical implements, and more particularly to an improved brush device for collecting cellular or bacterial specimens.

There is a need for an accessory medical implement or device specifically suited to facilitate the collecting of a cellular or bacterial specimen for testing and examination. Present medical procedures and techniques generally involve the use of a sponge, a gauze or a similar object to wipe an examination area in order to collect a specimen from this area for subsequent testing and examination. Often the specimen must be obtained from an internal and confined area, requiring the use of an endoscope such as a bronchoscope. This is a medical procedure which is uncomfortable to the patient and therefore one which should be performed quickly and efficiently. It is not unusual, however, for a wiping procedure with a prior art device to provide an inadequate amount of cellular or bacterial material for testing and examination, requiring the procedure to be repeated to the discomfort of both the patient and the doctor.

Broadly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved brush device for the foregoing mentioned medical purposes which overcomes the aforementioned and other shortcomings of the prior art. Specifically, it is an object to provide a brush device adapted to efficiently scrape an area being examined in order to collect a specimen and including means for presenting a concentrated amount of the scraped material for subsequent testing and examination. Thus, not only does the brush device effectively scrape the area being examined, but the scraped or collected material is concentrated in a known area which is readily wiped by the doctor in preparing a slide or the like for transmittal to a pathology laboratory.

A brush device demonstrating objects and advantages of the present invention includes a brush body having spaced bristles thereon suitable for scraping. Secured to the body is a compressible sponge-like member having openings therein which, in practice, receive each bristle in a sliding fit. By pressing the brush device firmly against the area being examined, the sponge is compressed and projects the bristles beyond the sponge surface for scraping action incident to moving the device through brushing strokes against the examined area. Thereafter, release of the pressure permits the sponge to expand into its normal position about the bristles, and during such expansion any cellular or bacterial material is wiped from the Patented May 19, 1970 bristles onto the sponge surface. This cellular or bacterial material is thus concentrated about the periphery of each sponge opening and is readily adapted to facilitate subsequent testing and examination since it is in a quantity suflicient under most circumstances for these purposes.

The above brief description, as well as further objects, features and advantages of the present invention, will be more fully appreciated by reference to the following detailed description of a presently preferred, but nonetheless illustrative embodiment in accordance with the pres ent invention, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a typical use of the brush device hereof for collecting a cellular or bacterial specimen from a patient through a bronchoscope;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view, on an enlarged scale, of the brush device;

FIG. 3 is an elevational view in section, taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 2, illustrating details in the construction of the brush device;

FIG. 4 is an elevational view similar to FIG. 3 but showing the condition of the brush device after the application of pressure in the direction designated by the reference arrow P;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged partial perspective view of the brush device, with portions in section, illustrating operative conditions of the brush device in full and phantom line perspective; and

FIG. 6 is an elevational view, in section taken on line 6-6 of FIG. 5, illustrating structural features of a scraping element or bristle of the brush device.

Reference is now made to the drawings and in particular to FIG. 1 wherein there is illustrated a typical use of the brush device 10 hereof in conjunction with a bronchoscope 12 for obtaining a cellular or bacterial specimen from a specific examination area 14a in the tracheal-bronchial tree 14 of a patient. It will be understood that this illustrated use is not intended as a limitation on the use of the brush device 10 but that the brush device 10 is generally useful whenever a brush specimen is to be collected for transmittal to a pathology laboratory for examination or for similar purposes. The illustrated use of the brush device 10 in conjunction with a bronchoscope 12 does, however, serve to point out the advantages thereof over prior art devices because of the difiiculties attendant to collecting a specimen from within the confined area of the tracheal-bronchial tree 14 during a bronchoscope procedure which is understandably very uncomfortable to the patient. In this environment, it can be readily understood that the brush device 10 functioning in the manner to be described in detail subsequently herein represents a noteworthy device to the extent that it provides an adequate amount of cellular or bacterial material for testing and examination purposes as a result of only few brush strokes in the examined area. This is in contrast to prior art devices, consisting usually of a sponge or gauze, which is used to wipe the area being examined for purposes of collecting cellular or bacterial material and which, in many instances, does not produce a sufficient quantity of material for testing. This, in turn, requires the doctor to perform the wiping procedure several times, thereby prolonging the time necessary for collecting a specimen and adding to the discomfort of the patient.

Reference is now made to FIGS. 26 illustrating the construction of an exemplary embodiment of the brush device 10 according to the present invention. The brush device 10 includes a rigid plastic handle 16 which is held and manipulated by the doctor at its proximal end 16a (see FIG. 1). At its distal end 16b, the handle 16 has a construction for reliably producing an adequate amount of cellular or bacterial material from the anatomical region being examined. This construction at the distal end 16b includes a scraping member 18, preferably injection molded, and secured in any appropriate manner to the handle 16. One preferred way of securing the scraping member 18 to the handle 16 is to adhere the cylindrical surface 18a thereof to a matching cylindrical surface 160 of the handle 16. At its opposite side, the scraping member 18 is formed with protruding scraping elements or bristles 20, preferably circular in cross-section. There are five such bristles 20 on the illustrated embodiment of the scraping member 18, but more or less than this number can be provided. Completing the construction of the distal end of the brush device is a sponge-like elastically resilient compressible body 22, preferably formed of a resilient plastic. The body 22 is rectangular in shape, being secured in any appropriate manner to the scraping member 18, as by an adhesive applied at 22a. The opposite surface 221) of the body 22 serves as a specimencollecting surface which, in practice, is wiped by the doctor and will provide a sutficient quantity of cellular or bacterial material for testing and examination purposes. The compressible body 22 has a series of cylindrical or tubular passageways 22c which are each of an appropriate diameter to receive in a sliding fit one of the scraping elements or bristles and which open onto surface 22!). The normal or uncompressed height A of the body 22 relative to the height of the bristles 20 is such that the free ends 20a of the bristles 20 normally terminate a short distance below the level of the specimen-collecting surface 22b.

Reference is now made to FIG. 4 illustrating a typical use of the brush device 10. More particularly, it is contemplated that a pressure 'will be applied by the doctor in the direction of the arrow P to press the body 22 firmly against the examination area 14a. In fact, in response to the applied pressure P, the body 22 is compressed from its normal height A to the smaller dimension B which, in turn, results in the scraping elements or bristles 20 being projected through the openings 22c beyond the surface 22b. The brushing device 10 is then manipulated through brushing strokes S causing the bristle ends 20a to scrap cellular or bacterial materials from the area 14a. The pressure P is then released and the body 22 permitted to return to its normal height A. During the movement of the body 22 from height B to height A the cellular or bacterial material which has been collected on each of the bristles 20 is wiped from these elements onto the specimen-collecting surface 22b The foregoing wiping action of the device 10 can be best understood by reference to FIG. 5. In the compressed height B of the compressible body 22, each bristle 20 extends beyond the upper or specimen-collecting surface 22b of the body 22 and as a result of scraping action there will be formed cellular or bacterial material on the end of each bristle 20. The cellular or bacterial matter is represented by the crosshatching designated C in FIG. 5. After the release of the pressure P, however, the body 22 returns to its normal height A which results in the edge which bounds and defines each of the openings 22c moving along the bristle 20 and in the process wiping the cellular or bacterial material C from the bristle 20. The material C is therefore transferred from the bristle 20 to the specimen-collecting surface 22b and is concentrated about the periphery of each of the openings 22c. The concentration of material C is then wiped on a slide or otherwise suitably prepared for testing and examination.

As best shown in FIG. 6, to improve the scraping action of each bristle 20, the free end 20a thereof is preferably ground into a concave shape thereby producing an efi'icient scraping edge 20b.

From the foregoing, it should be readily appreciated that the brush device 10 is an efiicient device for scraping an anatomical area to remove cellular or bacterial material, having provision for automatically wiping any collected material from the scraping structure thereof and accumulating the same in a manner to facilitate subsequent examination and testing. Further, the automatic wiping of the scraping structure insures that the cellular or bacterial material will not be contaminated by any foreign matter.

A latitude of modification, change and substitution is intended in the foregoing disclosure and in some instances some features of the invention will be employed without a corresponding use of other features. Accordingly, it is apparent thatmodifications and variations of the illustrated embodiment are within the spirit and scope of the invention herein.

What is claimed is:

1. A brush device for collecting a cellular or bacterial specimen comprising a scraping member having scraping elements extending therefrom and an elastically resilient sponge-like compressible body secured to said scraping member, said compressible body having a specimen-collecting surface and tubular passageways therethrough terminating and opening at said surface, wherein said passageways, in said operative condition, receive and surround said scraping elements in a sliding fit, and wherein, when the said body is in its uncompressed condition, the free ends of said scraping elements are located in said passageways below the level of said specimen-collecting surface, and wherein when said elastically resilient, sponge-like compressible body is compressed under pressure the free ends of the scraping elements project therefrom for scraping action, and wherein upon the release of said pressure the said body returns to its uncompressed condition, thus returning the scraping elements to their said position below the level of the said surface, and the free ends of the scraping elements contact the surrounding openings at the said surface to wipe any cellular or bacterial specimens from said free ends of the scraping elements onto said specimen-collecting surface.

2. A brush device for collecting a cellular or bacterial specimen as defined in claim 1 including a handle attached to said scraping member and extending away therefrom for introducing said scraping member into a confined area.

3. A brush device for collecting a cellular or bacterial specimen as defined in claim 2 wherein said body and handle are molded plastic articles of manufacture and the free ends of said bristles are ground into a concave shape to improve the scraping action thereof.

4. A brush device for collecting a cellular or bacterial specimen as defined in claim 1 wherein said scraping member is a molded plastic article of manufacture having spaced bristles extending therefrom serving as said scraping elements.

5. A brush device for collecting a cellular or bacterial specimen as defined in claim 4 wherein the free ends of said scraping elements are ground into a concave surface to improve the scraping action thereof.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,327,757 1/1920 Eggers. 1,891,864 12/1932 Barrett 128304 1,942,205 1/1934 Elnett 15-114 2,601,513 6/1952 Gladstone 128-2 2,955,591 10/19601 MacLean 1282 2,955,592 10/1960 MacLean 1282 3,392,421 7/1968 Mathison 15-114 XR FOREIGN PATENTS 490,174 8/ 1938 Great Britain. 1,134,630 12/ 1956 France.

RICHARD A. GAUDET, Primary Examiner K. L. HOWELL, Assistant Examiner U.S. c1. X.R. 15-110, 114 

